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Laurie Pegol (Cataclysmic Gerosha)
|image= |caption=Laurie, operating the Sodality ham radio. |publisher=Dozerfleet Comics |debut=''Sodality'' |creators=David Stiefel |homeworld=Houston, TX |alliances=Sodality of Gerosha (formerly), SCALLOP (formerly) |equipment=Bluetooth and ham radio }} Laurie Pegol is a supporting character in Sodality, a friend to Candi and Dolly primarily. She appears throughout the Adaptation season, but quickly fades away from relevance after she quits the Sodality of Gerosha. An early version of her also appeared in the Classic Gerosha Ciem webcomic from 2007, and was set to reappear in Ciem 2 before it was canceled. Skills * Ham radio manning: Laurie proves especially adept at learning quickly how to operate the radio system that the Sodality of Gerosha utilizes. Through this means, she is able to assist Candi and Dolly remotely. She even helps train Celia, although Celia uses her parkour and espionage skills to do retcon for the other two girls at times. * Piano: Laurie is a music industry major, and is also a very adept piano player, performing for shows and as odd jobs. * Firearms training: She has proven herself very capable with an uzi when handed one, though she is not overly fond of carrying firearms. Character bio Enrolling in college Little is known about her early life. Before she left high school, she got engaged to a man named Joe Bonati. However, their time together was turbulent; and Joe became abusive toward her. She was considering leaving him, but her need to was handled by fate. He died in a car crash the day she was about to write her "Dear John" letter. Laurie enrolled at the University of Houston a short time later, and attended for a music industry major. Joining the Sodality One fateful evening, she was attacked by Don the Psycho. However, Ciem and Dolly Malestrom came to her rescue. She tagged along in the distance, watching the battle and overhearing "Candi" come out of Dolly's mouth. She tracked the girls down later, as they were mentioning their need for new mission control staff. She volunteered herself. After attending a service of Wilbur Brocklyn's underground Sodality Church, she became convinced that this would allow her to show a demonstration of living out faith that she'd failed to do by living with her fiance before marriage. She was soon involved with a lot of the Sodality's missions, and would train Celia - who was recruited through similar means. Switching roles Early on, Laurie focused on being Candi's mission control, while Celia focused on being Dolly's. The inclusion of Jack meant that Laurie switched focus to Jack while Celia focused on Candi and Dolly. When Jeral joined the ranks, Laurie became his mission control. Dolly lobbied for information on where her tech and Jeraime's was, so that the Earwig armor that was rightfully hers to wield per her marriage to Jeraime could find its way back into her possession. The growing Sodality's enemies started becoming too dangerous for Dolly. Lacking Celia's innate talent for parkour, Dolly finally elected to become Candi's mission control until she could return to the field. This meant Laurie was put in charge of Jeral's feed, Dolly in charge of Candi's, and Celia in charge of Jack's. However, the three girls in the Sodality Support Staff were able to alternate roles freely as the situation called for it. When not assisting her friends on missions, Laurie focused on her music career - and on a new boyfriend named Kwame. Arrest After losing an ownership dispute with Dolly, an angry Darius Philippine put his corrupt cronies within SCALLOP to work to abuse the Kirby Act and the ever-growing list of Beliah Amendments to it. He decided to accuse Dolly of an "elaborate conspiracy" to "steal" the Earwig armor. Since her marriage to Jeraime was not considered legal by reason of the courts in Toklisana due to it occurring in Ameristan - where Halal Affadidah had ruled "kafir" marriages automatically invalid; Darius argued that she therefore was not lawfully entitled to the armor. tries unsuccessfully to get Laurie to sell out her friends.]] It turned out that the armor's internal AI was flawed, made the wielder extra-aggressive, and also had a tendency toward storing damning information on others. Darius didn't want his closet homosexual affair with Jim Oisdaat being revealed to the public, for fear it would mean the end of SCALLOP if everyone found out that Darius had been unfaithful to Nancy before she died. Informants had let Lex in on the secret, so he already knew. Set to replace Darius as the director should Darius ever die, the young Lex already sought to weed out a lot of his father's corruption. Darius cut a secret deal to give the Earwig AI to Duke Arfaas, and stage an incident wherein which the Hebbleskin Gang somehow broke in and "stole" the armor from SCALLOP Houston HQ. This was because Arfaas wanted the armor, to have total control of the Earwig armor protocol that he'd already partially reverse-engineered to create Musaran. With total control, Arfaas planned to seize the reins of Malestrom Industries away from Jeraime's family, and create an army of highly-armored Meethlite troops to replace his Meethexos - the latter of whom proved to be highly unstable and unreliable. Dolly and Candi's interference with this put Dolly dangerously close to learning from the AI about Darius' affair, though she didn't let the armor's AI activate fully. Fearing that Dolly could've learned too much and angry with her defiance for putting it on in order to aid Candi in thwarting the Hebbleskin raid on the base, Darius hatched a scheme to charge the entire Sodality of Gerosha with what he himself was essentially guilty of: a conspiracy to steal the Earwig armor. At the time, Jack and Jeral were out of town dealing with a monster - and searching for leads on where the Phaletori were hiding Emily. Darius instead sent Lonny Grivolt, a Hebbleskin plant in the Houston PD loyal to the recently-outed Hebbleskin spy and former police chief Merle Hourvitz, to arrest Candi and Dolly on theft conspiracy charges. He sent Jim Oisdaat himself to arrest Laurie and Celia - though the latter two were unaware of what happened between Dolly and Darius. While Candi had heard Dolly talk of wanting to go to lengths to argue for her rights to the armor, Candi was unable to commit to helping Dolly with that task, and told Dolly she'd have to pursue that on her own. The other Sodality members were oblivious to the ordeal, as neither Candi nor Dolly thought to inform them of Dolly's quest to pursue legal action. The girls didn't realize that Darius had bugged their dorm rooms. While Candi and Dolly were made aware of the reason for their arrests, Laurie and Celia were kept in the dark, and assumed they were simply being kidnapped for no reason. Laurie learned after being arrested as to what really happened. She was interrogated by Jim, who tried to get her to sell out her friends and give him as much dirt as possible on them. Laurie refused to do this. However, she came to conclude that her future music career required her to make a choice. She could either leave them and pursue her successful music career, or she could stay with them even when the Beliah Amendments' lawful enforcement period went into effect - possibly risking life in prison if things came down to the worst. After thinking through things briefly, Laurie informed her friends that she was going to quit. Life in the Sodality had become too dangerous for her; and her music career connections would not forever tolerate her associating with convicted felons like Candi. Agent of SCALLOP for a day During what amounted to a show trial, Laurie and her friends were put through grueling humiliation by Darius' court. Dolly and Candi's refusal to be silent about what SCALLOP agents no longer loyal to Darius had informed them regarding Darius' corruption led to the two of them almost being found in contempt of court. Celia becomes similarly emboldened as the other two, outraged that Jim appears to be getting away with raping her. Laurie, however, tries to lay back and hold her ground with a calm demeanor. reprimands Shaniqua Tamery for going against protocol to make Laurie and Celia into combat agents on the fly.]] Celia is let free on condition that she not go to the media about Jim. Candi is issued a few weeks of probation behind her back along with a requirement to spend only one day extra in jail before being set free. Laurie is told she'd be set free from jail later that day, provided she behaved herself. Dolly, however, was found "guilty," and to be sent off to SCALLOP Women's Containment Center for her "felony conspiracy." Arfaas, however, went behind Darius' back and began a second raid on the SCALLOP HQ. Candi, sensing something was off, took some Remotach from her hidden hair pin stash. She was quickly attacked with a Bezeetol dart and drugged, then led off to the chopping block. She was able to fool her enemies into thinking she was dead, and quickly reattached her own head as soon as they left the room. She made sure to re-attach before she lost too much more blood, as this would make her dizzy. Changing into a Ciem suit quickly, she attacked those Hebbleskin infiltrators dressed as SCALLOP agents who came to collect her head. As Musaran made his way through the facility wreaking havoc, she set out in pursuit of him. Realizing he'd been careless, Darius fled with Dolly. He made some last-minute changes to his plans for Dolly's sentencing, getting her sentence transferred so she'd be in Harris County Jail rather than SCALLOP HQ. As much as Darius wanted Dolly miserable, he'd be exposed as a traitor if she died by the Hebbleskins' hands the way he mistakenly believed Candi had. He also reasoned that after a month at Harris County, Dolly would be transferred to Houston Women's Prison. and Jeral.]] With the whole Houston area thrown into chaos by Hebbleskins, various agents of SCALLOP found themselves scrambling to regain control of their own organization - especially with their director off the grid. Laurie and Celia found themselves captured, along with a sympathetic agent named Shaniqua Tamery. Musaran was put in charge of executions, and was about to use his sword to take off Shaniqua's head when Ciem arrived in the room and fought him off. She Zeran teleported herself and Musaran to the streets, to resume their battle there. Shaniqua took advantage of this chaos to get a hold of an uzi, blowing away Hebbleskin infiltrator Anders. With the room they were in secured, Shaniqua untied Laurie and Celia. She made the girls unofficial SCALLOP agents to assist in clearing the base of Hebbleskin intruders. With the building secured, Shaniqua was reprimanded by Chad Orvain for making Laurie and Celia into agents without due process. Shaniqua took the girls to a nearby parking ramp. However, Arfaas started sending in some of his lesser doomsday vehicles. While not the airship, these land vessels could do a lot of damage. The girls realized that Jackrabbit and Botan were needed to defeat these vessels - and to buy Ciem some time. Laurie's retreat was covered by Shaniqua and Celia. After a quick change of clothes to avoid suspicion while returning to her dorm, Laurie got on the radio to contact Jack and Jeral. The two of them had recently rescued an Amanda Curlington - able to naturally Zeran teleport as well as Lord Zeras himself - from being trapped under some building rubble. She used her ability to send them back to Houston - but declined to join the Sodality. Resignation from the Sodality Alas, the battle fallout had some unpleasant results. Musaran escaped, and Candi's recklessness while fighting him angered a bar owner. Candi was given some brief jail time for that, with the option to either go back to the SCALLOP HQ Jail or to Harris County - where she'd be sent to protect Dolly. Candi opted for Harris County, deciding that facility was more tolerable than being anywhere near Darius and Jim. Laurie informs Candi and Dolly via mail that she is keeping her word to Darius, and quitting the Sodality. She informs them that she'll never forget the good times, and is grateful for all they've done to protect her from Don the Psycho and help her grow - and to be a hero. However, her journey with them was over. She removed her membership from Wilbur's Sodality Church after writing the letter, asking him to release her name from membership. She finally packed up her bags, and transferred to another dorm. She said goodbye to Celia, Jeral, and Jack afterward. She let them know that she couldn't be one of them anymore. Refusal to help Celia Some time later, as Jim Oisdaat was stalking Celia and working overtime to make her a fugitive, Celia discovered where Laurie was living. She tried to talk Laurie into giving her a place to lay low, explaining the situation. However, Laurie revealed how Kwame had abandoned her because of her arrest record. Laurie gave Celia some supplies for the road; yet refused to take her in long term. Celia reminded Laurie of Luke 17:33, but Laurie sent Celia away anyway. Death Oisdaat hit up Laurie's residence in search of information on where Celia went. Remembering Celia's words and regretting her earlier cowardice, Laurie refused to sell out which direction Celia was going in. She also told Oisdaat that he was out of line terrorizing civilians who were non-Sodality. An angry Oisdaat and his Icy Finger affiliates warned Laurie that Celia was not worth being a martyr over. Laurie refused to cooperate, and Oisdaat ordered his minions to slit her throat. They took her body away to a remote location in the desert under cover of darkness, and she was never discovered. It didn't take long before Jordan and Celia pieced together what happened. However, proving Oisdaat guilty of murder would prove difficult. Laurie's dying thoughts were on how her reaction toward both Celia and Oisdaat reflected both parts of Luke 17:33. She considered death by Oisdaat to be redemption for being a coward and leaving the Sodality. She tried to save her music career by walking away from the Sodality. Her other friends abandoned her anyway. Her career faltered. Yet, she was assured of salvation for Whom she refused to abandon. And even more so when she refused to sell out her old friends. She could play a better piano for eternity than any Earth had to offer her. As she looked down on her lifeless body one last time, Dolondri introduced her to the gates she'd be waiting outside of until the day the main city could be entered. In the mean time, she was given a piano to play to entertain the masses also waiting outside the gate. Personality Laurie can be very kind and warmhearted once she learns to trust someone. However, she can also have a very rough exterior and be slow to trust. She loves playing piano and is loyal to her small circles of friends. However, her loyalty is not undying. She fears incarceration greatly, and will turn to cowardice to avoid it. Development Inspiration Laurie was inspired by the real-life Elizabeth Pegouskie, who attended Ferris State University around the same time period as the Dozerfleet founder. Key attributes are the loss of a former fiance, a love for playing piano, and her hair being similar. Latter incarnations of Laurie altered her wardrobe aesthetic and hairstyle, making the character more divergent from her real-life counterpart. Early versions Ciem.]] Although she is ultimately dead by the time she reaches the end of her arc in Determination, early concepts for Sodality had her surviving to meet Tiffany and Jordan Sterlie in the Augmentation arc. She also would have met Hea and Tabitha Pang, and witnessed Tabitha and Jordan meet for the first time - unaware they'd be soulmates later on. Earlier than that, a version of Laurie was one of Candi's best friends in 2007's Ciem webcomic on Mod The Sims. Her role was very minor in that webcomic series, as she all but completely disappears in Ciem 2 and only briefly appears in Ciem 3. When Dirbine falls, Laurie is among those allied with Candi that flees into exile. Other exiles include that universe's versions of Khumar Hamilton, Lindsay Hamilton, Dolly Malestrom, and Wilbur Brocklyn. Appearance Laurie's likeness has always been modeled after Liz's to some extent, yet that full extent has varied. She's been rendered in numerous Sims titles, with her Sims 3 appearance looking more true to the source inspiration. She had a very laid back look in initial Sims renders, with a more rugged "street" look for later Sims 3 panels to reflect the Sodality's "ghetto" aesthetic in their war-torn Texas setting. See also * Candi McArthur (Cataclysmic Gerosha) * Celia Winehart (Cataclysmic Gerosha) * Dolly Malestrom (Cataclysmic Gerosha) * Jack Mercreek (Cataclysmic Gerosha) * Jeral Cormier (Cataclysmic Gerosha)/SDCPM * Don Mendoza (Cataclysmic Gerosha) * Jim Oisdaat (Cataclysmic Gerosha) * Sodality of Gerosha External links * Scrapped Gerosha ideas gallery at DeviantArt * [http://bulldozerivan.deviantart.com/gallery/48943144 Sodality 2D concept art collection] at DeviantArt ** Red-Cyan 3D concept art collection ** Green-Magenta 3D concept art collection